chapter 20 part 1
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Chapter 20 Part 1. Life in the 18 th Century. Marriage and the family before 1750. The Nuclear family still most common in pre-industrial Europe Young married couples established their homes apart from their parents - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Chapter 20Part 1
Life in the 18th Century
Marriage and the family before 1750
The Nuclear family still most common in pre-industrial Europe
Young married couples established their homes apart from their parents
Sometimes, though, 3-generations: an older parent sometimes went to live with a married child
Before 1750 marriage age was high
Especially for poorer classes Late 20’s or older for both men and
women A couple could not marry unless they
could support themselves Sometimes young men had to wait
until their fathers died to gain land through inheritance
Young women and their families had to come up with a dowry
In some areas legal permission from the local lord was needed to marry
Austria and many German states had legal restrictions on marriage well into the 19th century
Belief that without legal restrictions regulating marriage, lower classes would create more paupers and abandoned children and more government money would be needed for welfare
BUT Often these legal restrictions helped
to maintain some balance between population and limited resources
Many never married 40-60% of women between the ages
of 15 and 44 were unmarried at any given time
Children (Before 1750) Illegitimate birth rate was fairly low
Due to the powerful social controls of traditional villages, especially the open-field ones
If a pregnancy occurred parents, priests, landlords, village elders pressured the couple to marry
Premarital sex Was generally limited to couples who
were considering marriage anyway
Numbers of children per family
If the husband and wife lived to the age of 45, about 50% gave birth to 6 or more children
High infant mortality rate: 50% survival rate into adulthood was considered good
20% in economically viable areas 33% in poorer areas
After 1750 New patterns of marriage and
legitimacy
The increased incomes resulting from cottage industries meant more married for love instead of just for economic reasons
Young people became financially independent earlier
Arranged marriages For economic reasons declined Laws and regulations on marriage
(especially in Germany) were ignored
After 1780 factory workers followed the same pattern as cottagers
Between 1750 and 1850 The explosion of births was due to
the explosion of illegitimate births
Fewer girls abstained from premarital sex
Fewer boys were willing to marry the girls they impregnated
Mobility Encouraged new sexual and marital
relationships
In towns and cities young people were removed from the pressures of the village elders, landlords, parents, and priests
In Germany, though, it was different
Germany Illegitimate births were the result of
an open rebellion against the legal restrictions
How do we know?
The illegitimate birth rate declined when the restrictions were removed
Women Women in cities and factory towns had
limited economic independence
Young women were NOT motivated by hopes of emancipation and sexual liberation
Most hoped for marriage as a way to escape their difficult lifestyles
Often poor economic and social conditions scared men away from commitment
Changing attitudes toward children in the 18th century
Poorer women breast –fed their children much longer than women in the 20th century
The decreased fertility while breast-feeding aided in the spacing of children to 2 to 3 years apart
Mothers’ milk was healthier than other foods anyway and more infants survived
But Women who were aristocrats and upper
middle class women (also wives of well-to-do artisans) rarely breast-fed
They believed that breast-feeding was crude, common, and beneath their dignity
Many sent their children to the countryside
Wet-nurses were hired to breast-feed these children
Children were wet-nursed there for 2 to 3 years
Negligence was not uncommon…Killing Nurses
Infanticide The early Medieval Church viewed
each life as sacred and denounced infanticide
BUT severe poverty was an issue throughout human history and infanticide was rampant
Often “overlaying” occurred: a parent rolling over and suffocating a child in bed
Foundling Hospitals Many poor women left their infants on
the doorsteps of churches
By 1770 1/3 of all babies born in Paris were immediately abandoned
1/3 of these babies were from married couples
Foundling hospitals in Paris first then all over
St. Vincent de Paul began as a Foundling Hospital group
St Petersburg A foundling hospital in St.
Petersburg cared for 25,000 babies in the early 19th century
The above received 5,000 a year
Half of those babies died within a year
In some foundling hospitals 90% died the first year
Some claimed That Foundling Hospitals promoted
“legalized infanticide”
Child-rearing High infant mortality rates discouraged
parents to become too emotionally attached to their children
Doctors often refused to treat sick children believing that little could be done
Children were often treated with indifference
Wet-nursing is a good example
Daniel Defoe: Wrote Robinson Crusoe Said, “Spare the rod and spoil the
child.”
Many believed that a parent’s job was to break the will of the child and make him obedient
Children were subject to harsh discipline
The Enlightenment and Humanitarian Movements
Encouraged better treatment of children
Rousseau encouraged greater love and understanding
Children began to survive infancy and live longer
Parents began to grow closer to their children
Work away from home In the countryside, young people
worked within their families until they could start their own households
Boys ploughed in the fields or wove in the cottage industry
Girls spun thread and tended the farm animals
Increasingly, Boys worked away from home
Boys in towns had opportunities to apprentice themselves to a craftsman for a period of 7 to 14 years
Boys could learn a trade or be admitted to a guild after the apprentice period
They could not marry during this period
Most drifted from one tough job to another
Girls working away from home
Had limited opportunities The most common job was domestic
service in another family’s household
Most hoped to send money to their parents or save money for marriage
Was one less mouth for their parents to feed
Servant Girls Had little real independence They were vulnerable to physical
mistreatment by their mistresses They were vulnerable to sexual advances
of their male employers
The upper classes often exploited their servants
A pregnant servant girl was quickly fired Petty theft and prostitution were the only
other options
Education The beginning of formal education
for the masses took root Was inspired by Protestantism and
the belief that all Christians should be able to read the Bible
The aristocracy and wealthy had a two-century head start with special colleges run by Jesuits
In the 17th century “little schools” of elementary
education began to appear
Boys and girls 7-12 were instructed in basic literacy and religion
By 1682 France established Christian schools which taught reading, writing and religion
England The Church of England and other
dissenting religious groups founded “charity schools” for poor children
In 1717 Prussia was the first for compulsory education
Remember…an educated citizen could better serve the state
Scotland Created a network of parish schools
for all citizens to be able to read the scriptures
The Enlightenment Philosophers and philosophes
believed that education was the key to human progress
Had a commitment to critical thinking and reinforced interest in education throughout Europe
Results 1600 1800
Scotland 1 in 6 (males) literate 90%
England 1 in 4 (males) literate 50%
France 1 in 6 (males) literate 66%
Women increasing literacy but lagged behind men